


The Dark and the Quiet

by Pale_Blue



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas Holidays, Down and Out Draco Malfoy, Mental Health Issues, References to Depression, draco is struggling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-03 06:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21174992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pale_Blue/pseuds/Pale_Blue
Summary: Scorpius didn’t want Albus to see how his life away from Hogwarts looked.He wanted to keep the two seperate, as far away from one another as possible. That way it was easier to forget. It was easier to pretend it was all fine and normal at Hogwarts if no one knew the truth.But now all Scorpius had worked to hide was coming to light faster then he would have ever wanted it to.





	The Dark and the Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> This will ignore the timeline set out in Cursed Child and just the plot of it in general (at least for now).

The Hogwarts Express pulled into King’s Cross on time as usual in a great cloud of grey steam. It was greeted by a platform filled with anxious parents craning their necks to try to catch a glimpse of their children through the windows. Smaller siblings muffled up in scarves and hats ran between the members of the assembled crowd, small feet pattering on the tiles and laughter ringing around the crowded platform. The winter cold was biting, turning noses red and fingers numb. It would soon be Christmas, and for most of the parents gathered, it would be the first time they had seen their children in several months.

On the Hogwarts Express, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy waited somewhat impatiently behind a group of fifth years who were taking an exasperatingly long time to gather all their things and leave the train. The two boys had become friends in the first few weeks at Hogwarts and had been inseparable ever since. Both had been dreading the long Christmas break, fearing they would not be able to see one another as much as they had grown accustomed to while at school. Harry and Ginny had both been highly amused by their friendship when Albus had first told them about his new best friend, with Harry saying to Ginny that clearly history would not be repeating itself. There would be no Malfoy-Potter rivalry at Hogwarts, probably much to the relief of the professors who had already been through that once.

“I can’t wait for you to finally meet my dad,” Albus told Scorpius, excitedly grabbing his friend’s sleeve. “I’ve been writing about you in my letters since September”.

“All good things I hope,” Scorpius replied, somewhat distracted by the scene unfolding in front of them. One of the fifth years had managed to drop a glass vial containing a bright pink potion on the carpeted floor of the carriage and there was now a hole clean through the floor and, perplexingly enough, a strong smell of burnt candy floss.

“Of course!” Albus replied. “There would be nothing bad to say anyway, you’re always studying and going to bed early.”

It was true that of the two of them it was Scorpius who was the studious one. He had tried to drag Albus along on his early morning study sessions for the first few weeks of their friendship but Albus was rarely seen out of bed before 10 am so it hadn’t been a great success. Albus often claimed that the Sorting Hat had made a mistake putting Scorpius in Slytherin, he was clearly a Ravenclaw to the bone.

“Is valuing education a sin now?” asked Scorpius, shooting his friend a smile.

“No but turning into a Slytherin version of my Aunt Hermione is,” he retorted, earning him a hat to the face from his amused friend.

The fifth years in front of them had finally managed to fix the hole in the floor of the train carriage and were now moving towards the exit in a large huddle. Albus and Scorpius trailed after them, with Albus already peering out of every window they passed, trying to catch a glimpse of his dad in the mass of people. He had been quite homesick for the first month at Hogwarts and had been looking forward to seeing his parents again. He had even missed Lilly, whom he loved but had fought with constantly before going to Hogwarts. Mostly, he had missed home. He had missed the feeling of being wrapped in safety and love in a house he knew like the back of his hand. Albus had always lived in the same house and he loved it almost as much as he loved his siblings. He loved the colours and the slightly chaotic atmosphere. His mum had painted most of the walls rich warm colours and the result was a house that definitely reminded him of his Grandma’s house. He loved the mismatched chairs and the shelves stuffed full of books that overflowed onto tabletops and stairs. He loved all the photographs, of his parents when they were younger and of himself and James and Lilly. But most of all he loved his room, which he had painted light blue and covered in glow in the dark stars.

“Can you see him?” Scorpius asked, smiling slightly at his friend’s obvious excitement to finally be going home for a while and for seeing his dad.

“Not yet, maybe he’s late”. Albus began to chew on his lip at the thought of that. James had decided to stay at Hogwarts for an extra week that year and wouldn’t be coming home until the week before Christmas. If his dad did end up being late he would be all alone on the platform waiting for him. The thought scared Albus more than he cared to admit, even to Scorpius.

“I can’t see my dad either,” Scorpius said softly. “Maybe they’re both a bit further back, I mean that crowd is absolutely huge.”

“Maybe,” said Albus, still looking hopefully out of the windows.

They finally made it to the door and left the train. Immediately they were enveloped by the noise and bustle of Platform 9 3/4. Everywhere people were walking in different directions, shouting names and greetings. Parents were hugging their children tightly and the odd owl screech only added to the din. Together they pushed through the masses, scanning around for either parent. It was a near impossible task in the crowds, they both weren’t really tall enough yet to see very far and all Albus could really see was a lot of shoulders. But then they burst through a particularly large group of excited first years exchanging addresses and Christmas gifts and suddenly Albus saw him. Standing a little back from the chaos, his dad saw Albus at the same time Albus saw him. Immediately, Albus ran to him and allowed himself to be hugged, feeling suddenly a lot more at home than he had in months.

“I missed you so much,” he said quietly, face still pressed against his dad’s chest.

“I missed you more, I can guarantee it,” Harry said, holding his youngest son tightly. “It’s so quiet in the house without you and Lilly starting a civil war ever three seconds,” he teased, ruffling Albus’s hair until it resembled his own rather unruly hair.

It was then that he caught sight of Scorpius, who was hanging back and looking unsure.

“You must be Scorpius,” he said. “I’ve heard so much about you”.

He disentangled a hand from around Albus and extended it to Scorpius, who took it but still seemed unsure as to what exactly he was supposed to be doing while his friend hugged his dad.

“Hi, it’s really nice to meet you, Albus talks about you all the time,” he said, somewhat awkwardly.

He dropped Harry’s hand and shoved both of his hands deep into his pockets. Albus, as though sensing his friend’s discomfort, untangled himself from his dad and turned back to his friend.

“Scorpius is the best person in my year dad, he really needs to come visit us at some point before Christmas”.

“Well, he’s always welcome,” said Harry. “Providing your dad is ok with that”.

Scorpius looked a lot happier at the suggestion of seeing Albus over the break.

“Is you dad picking you up Scorpius?” Harry asked. “We can wait with you if he’s running a bit late”.

“He said he was coming,” Scorpius said, looking round the now beginning to empty platform.

He couldn’t see his dad anywhere in the now depleting mass of parents. He suddenly felt a bit sick. He had been on the phone with his dad only a few days ago and he had promised him he would be there. They had planned to have lunch at a café near King’s Cross before heading home.

“Why don’t you try to give your dad a call?” Harry suggested. “And if he’s running late then we’ll wait with you”.

Scorpius nodded, and pulled out his phone to try to call his dad. He hadn’t heard anything from him for a few days but that was not exactly abnormal. He was worried now though, about what the silence could mean. He pulled up his dad’s number and redialled it, not really expecting an answer but hoping for one anyway. He could feel Harry watching him, even though he was turned away from them. He pressed the ringing phone to his ear, listened to the familiar ring come over and over again, the hope of his dad picking up dying a little bit more with each one. Behind him he could hear Albus excitedly telling his dad about the train journey and the Slytherin common room. After his call going to voice mail twice it was clear his dad wasn’t going to pick up. He put the phone back in his pocket. When Scorpius turned back to them, the concern was clear on his face. Harry recognised it and remembered the feeling of being alone on the train platform in his first year at Hogwarts and how lost he’d felt all alone in the mass of people.

“Anything?” he asked.

Scorpius shook his head.

“Why don’t we wait for a bit and see if he shows up. And if not then I can drop you home, Ok?” Harry said to Scorpius, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Scorpius nodded, but he really, really hoped that his dad would show up. He didn’t want Albus to see where he lived. Albus didn’t need to know the whole thing yet. He knew some of it. He knew Scorpius wasn’t rich, not by a long shot. He knew Scorpius hadn’t been able to afford to buy all his schoolbooks, so he had to use the copies from the library. He knew Scorpius had never been on a holiday and his dad wasn’t able to work a lot because he wasn’t well. But he didn’t know the full extent of the problems with his dad or how poor they actually were. Scorpius also had the feeling that his dad wouldn’t want Harry Potter to see where they lived.

They waited for a quarter of an hour, until they were the last people left on the platform. Everyone else had long headed home, the laughing children and the heavy trunks no longer covered the space around them. It was just Albus, Scorpius and Albus’s dad. And all their things. The wind whistled through the platform and Albus pulled his scarf up to cover the lower half of his face. As much as he didn’t want to leave Scorpius alone on the platform, he also really didn’t want to spend much longer in the cold.

Harry looked up and down the platform one last time before turning to Scorpius.

“Look, maybe your dad got caught up. Why don’t I take you home, and you can text your dad and say I’m bringing you back. Is that ok?”

Scorpius wanted to say no, this was the last thing he wanted. But he needed to get back, and he couldn’t do magic outside of school and he had no money with him to try to get home using public transport. So he nodded, and allowed Harry to help him with his bags. But while he was smiling and laughing with Albus as normal, inside he was panicking. He didn’t want them to see where he lived. He especially didn’t want them to come in.

They walked out to the car park, where Harry put all their stuff in the back of the car, which had been magically expanded to allow all their things to fit. Scorpius gave Harry his address and tried to pretend he didn’t see the slight change in expression on his face. He knew it wasn’t a good area. He knew it wasn’t really somewhere anyone chose to go. But thankfully Harry didn’t say anything.

Scorpius spent most of the journey trying to reach his dad. He tried to ignore the sick feeling swelling up in his stomach. It never meant good things when his dad didn’t talk to him at all for a few days. It usually meant he was having one of his bad days, where answering the phone was an impossible task. Scorpius didn’t want anyone else to see that. He knew his dad didn’t want that either. The questions were never good, the answers usually worse.

* * *

It took them a little over half an hour to get to the area Scorpius lived in. Albus ceased his non-stop chatter about Hogwarts and fell silent as they drove past the towering concrete blocks covered in graffiti. He could tell Albus was looking at the rubbish overflowing out of the bins and the cracks in the pavements. At the overgrown grass around the apartment blocks and the large cracks in some of the windows on the lower floors. It was like another world compared to the grandeur and elegance of King’s Cross. Harry parked in front of the block of flats Scorpius lived in. For a second no one spoke, they all just looked up at the large grey building in front of a foreboding grey sky. Somewhere in the distance, Albus could hear indistinct shouting.

“Did you manage to get a hold of Draco?” Harry asked Scorpius, twisting round in his seat so he could face him.

Scorpius shook his head again. He didn’t dare to speak, in case fear and worry made his voice shake. The sick feeling was so strong now, it was overwhelming. He could feel it churning waves of worry in his stomach. Soon it would grip his chest and it would be hard to breathe.

“I’ll help you carry your stuff up,” Harry said. “You can’t possibly carry all those bags up to the sixth floor by yourself.”

“It’s fine, I can do it,” said Scorpius quickly, already getting out of the car. This was the last thing he needed.

“I’ll come too,” piped up Albus, also getting out of the car. “I want to see your room”.

Scorpius didn’t want Albus to see his room. He didn’t even want Albus to be seeing the area he lived in. He didn’t want Albus anywhere near this part of his life. He wanted to keep here and Hogwarts separate. That way it was easier to forget. It was easier to pretend it was all fine and normal at Hogwarts if no one knew the truth.

“It’s really fine,” he said, through gritted teeth as he tried to get the trunk of the car open. Harry came around the car and opened it for him.

“It’s not a problem,” he said. “I haven’t seen your dad in a while, it would be nice to say hello”.

Scorpius could recognise defeat when it stared him in the face. He just hoped desperately that his dad actually was just stuck at work and not still in bed, blocked off from the world. Because that was not something Harry Potter needed to see or know about.

By they time they go to the door of the flat, on the sixth floor, Scorpius had the feeling that Harry was regretting offering to help him with his bags. He had an awful feeling of shame, suddenly seeing as if for the first time, just how dirty the walls of the landing were and how scuffed the door was. Harry didn’t say anything but Scorpius could practically feel the pity coming off him in waves. As for Albus, his eyes were big as saucers as he stared at the shabby door. A small stack of newspapers and advertisements sat in a sad heap beside it.

Scorpius fished out his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, before giving it a hard shove.

“It always gets a bit stuck,” he said, by way of explanation.

Albus stared past Scorpius into the very dark and small hallway in front of them. There was a coat rack on the left beside a wobbly looking chest of drawers with a few books on top and three doors. The walls were painted the same off-white as the stairwell. When they entered the flat Scorpius realised their heating must have been turned off again, as the temperature inside was about the same as outside. He internally hoped Harry and Albus wouldn’t notice the cold.

“That’s my room there,” he said to Albus, gesturing somewhat half-heartedly at the door with a small hand drawn dragon painted on it.

Harry opened the door on their right somewhat cautiously, but before he could open it all the way Scorpius grabbed the doorknob and pulled it softly shut again.

“Which room is that Scorpius?” Harry asked, concern quite apparent on his face.

Scorpius didn’t say anything. He could feel the blood rushing in his ears and his heart was beating so fast he was worried that Harry and Albus could hear it. He could feel himself sweating in spite of the cold of the apartment.

“My dad sleeps in there,” he muttered, so indistinctly that at first Harry thought he hadn’t heard correctly. Scorpius had realised almost as soon as he had entered the dark and quiet flat that his dad was home and probably not well.

“Your dad sleeps in the kitchen?” Harry asked quietly, trying not let Scorpius hear his growing concern.

“No, in the living room,” he said, even more quietly.

“Why does he sleep there?” asked Albus curiously. “Why doesn’t he have a room?”

Scorpius shook his head miserably and started intently at his shoes, which were starting to get a bit too small. Harry regarded him with even more concern than before. Then he turned to Albus.

“Albus, I want you to take all of Scorpius’s bags into his room for me and start unpacking them for him, ok?”

“Why can’t Scorpius do that?” Albus asked, clearly somewhat annoyed at the idea. “I want to see the rest of the house.”

“Please, Albus,” Harry said again, this time somewhat more sternly. Albus gave a huge sigh and stomped over to the pile of bags that had been dumped in the entrance and dragged them into the room with the small dragon painted on the door. As soon as Albus was in the other room, Harry turned back to Scorpius.

“Scorpius, I’m not here to judge you or your dad. You have to know that. But I’m very worried about you and I can’t leave you here without making sure everything is ok,” he said softly.

Scorpius looked at him and nodded. Then he turned and quietly opened the door that led to the other room.

* * *

As soon as Albus made it into Scorpius’s room he was hit by how small it was.

There was a narrow bed tucked against the wall with a large plastic box beside it which Scorpius was clearly using as a nightstand. The entire wall opposite the bed was taken up by a large white wardrobe, which was slightly open. On the wall above the bed, Scorpius had hung newspaper cut-outs of different beauty spots in foreign countries, as well as photos of him and his family. Albus went over to look at them more closely. The one in the centre of the collage was of Scorpius and his mother. She had died when Scorpius was around eight, he remembered, of a blood curse. The woman in the photo was laughing, and even though it was a Muggle photograph he could almost hear her. He decided to ask his friend about her more. Scorpius had only rarely brought her up and Albus and hadn’t wanted to offend him in any way by prying.

Upon opening the wardrobe, Albus released something else. Half the clothes in the wardrobe weren’t Scorpius’s. They were Draco’s. There wasn’t even enough space in the flat for a second wardrobe.

* * *

When Harry opened the door, the first thing he saw was a very small kitchen. Then he opened the door a little further and saw that the room functioned as a kitchen, dining room and a living room. The kitchen area was small, and there was a messy stack of dirty dishes beside the sink. The cupboards were all had photos taped onto them, but Harry could not make out who or what was shown in them. The window above the sink looked directly onto the car park and was so small that barely any light seemed to penetrate the darkness of the small room. The curtains had been drawn over the other window on the other side of the room, making it had to make out anything in the living room area. Harry was suddenly struck by how sad and hopeless it all looked.

Scorpius had gone straight to the living room section of the room to what Harry now realised as his eyes had adjusted to the light was a sofa bed. And then, when Scorpius knelt down beside the bed and moved a few of the blankets out of the way, he realised that there was a person on the bed.

Almost scared at what he would see, he went to kneel beside Scorpius.

And that was when he saw Draco Malfoy for the first time in years.

If he was honest, this was not how he had pictured it happening. He had always thought that Draco would be living in a mansion somewhere, maybe even back at the Manor. He had pictured his one time rival wearing the same elegant suits he had worn back in their Hogwarts days and living the same life as luxury as he always had.

The person in front of him bore very little resemblance to the Draco he remembered. He had lost weight and his face was almost scarily gaunt, with dark shadows around his eyes and almost hollow cheeks. His white-blonde hair looked greasy and stringy, as though he hadn’t showered in several days. When Scorpius shuffled a few more of the blankets back slightly, which got no reaction from Draco at all, Harry was hit by the smell of sweat and unclean blankets. The lack of reaction was alarming. Draco hadn’t reacted to the arrival of his son, or to the fact Harry was in his flat. His eyes looked oddly blank, as though he was not really present. It was unnerving.

Scorpius wanted to cry tears of disappointment. His dad had been doing well, he hadn’t had a bad day in weeks. He had sounded fine on the phone. He hadn’t said anything about feeling unwell. Why today? Why couldn’t he just be normal? Why couldn’t he have been well enough to pick him up from the train station and take him to lunch? But mingled with the disappointment was also concern. It was clear Draco hadn’t left the flat or his bed in days.

Scorpius robotically moved the blankets back to cover his Draco’s shoulders. There wasn’t anything he could do when his dad was this bad except wait for it to stop. He got up and went over to the kitchen and began to fill some water into a glass, which he placed on the floor next to the sofa bed in the hope that Draco would drink a little. Then he went back to the table to examine the stack of letters which had accumulated there. A lot of them looked quite urgent and Scorpius could guess that at least one of them would detail why exactly they had no heating.

Harry pulled back a chair and sat down.

“Scorpius,” he said, quietly. “Is there anyone I can call for your dad? He doesn’t look well at all.” His voice seemed oddly loud in the silent flat.

“He doesn’t need anyone else,” Scorpius said just as quietly. “They can’t do anything for him. It’ll stop at some point”. His dad had been like this for as long as he could remember.

“What’s wrong with him?” Harry asked.

Scorpius didn’t answer for a second. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to divulge the full extent of his dad’s problems.

“He’s depressed,” he said, and left it at that.

Harry nodded and sat back in his chair slightly and looked over at the lump of blankets that was Draco Malfoy. The whole situation felt surreal.

“Is it usually this bad?” he asked Scorpius.

“Depends. There’s good and bad days,” he said. He wanted Harry to leave, he wanted Albus to get out of his room. He wanted them both to go as far away as possible and never come back to the flat. He wanted his dad to not be depressed, he wanted to come home to a normal dad who picked him up from the train station and cooked him dinner.

“Right.” Harry said. He looked really worried and Scorpius was struck by how similar his worried face was to Albus’s.

“Wait here a second”. He went back through to Scorpius’s bedroom where Albus was carefully stacking the books Scorpius had brought back beside the bed.

“Albus, I need you to go to that supermarket we saw around the corner for me. Just buy some basics, ok?” he asked with an urgency in his voice that Albus had never heard before. It scared him.

“Is Mr Malfoy ok?” he asked. “Is Scorpius ok?”.

“Yes. I just need to clear up some things with Scorpius, ok?” Harry said, in the voice grown-ups always used when they didn’t want children to realise they were scared or worried.

Albus opened his mouth to ask something else but Harry interrupted him.

“Please Albus,” he begged. “I’ll explain later”.

Albus nodded and made his way back out again after taking the money his father gave him. He looked back but Harry just nodded at him to go. The sound of the front door closing seemed too loud in the silent flat. Then he went back into the dark kitchen.

Scorpius was still sitting at the table sorting through the letters. He looked oddly small, sitting alone in the darkened room.

“We don’t need your help,” he said softly. “We don’t need your food”.

He wouldn’t look Harry in the eye.

“Please let me help you, Scorpius. I can’t just leave you here by yourself. I don’t know what kind of situation I would be leaving you in.”

“I’m not by myself. Dad’s here”

Harry sighed.

“But he isn’t currently in any sort of state to look after you. Scorpius, surely even you can see why I can’t just leave you here”.

Scorpius felt as though his head was made of cotton wool. The only cohesive thought his brain seemed capable of was that Harry and Albus had to leave. Before Harry could ask more questions and learn things he couldn’t know. Before he realised they were behind on bills, before he noticed the medication chart for his dad on the fridge, before he saw anything else. Before Scorpius was forced to reveal any more secrets.

“He’s been like this as long as I’ve been alive and we’ve been dealing with it just fine. He’ll snap out of it. Please just go.” Harry and Albus needed to leave. Scorpius could feel his hands beginning to sweat.

“I can’t do that Scorpius.”

“Please.”

He wouldn’t look at Harry. He didn’t want to see the pity on his face.

“How long will he take to get back to the way he usually is?” asked Harry. He wished Scorpius would see he was only trying to help.

“Don’t know,” Scorpius said, shrugging. Sometimes it took a few days, sometimes longer. But Harry didn’t need to know that.

Harry looked at Scorpius carefully. He had the feeling there was still a lot that Scorpius wasn’t telling him, but he knew better than to push him. But the situation was definitely worse than Scorpius was admitting. If he was honest, he wasn’t quite sure why the Malfoys were so poor in the first place. He knew the Ministry had taken some money off them after the war for reparations, but he recalled reading that they still had a significant amount left, even after the endless donations to charity mainly by Narcissa Malfoy. Lucius was serving a life sentence in Azkaban and most likely was not making much use of the remains of the Malfoy fortune. Which still left the question of why Draco and Scorpius were living in a tiny apartment and seemed to be somewhat behind in paying their bills.

Then he suddenly had an idea.

“Why don’t you and your dad come and stay with us, just until he’s back to normal. I’m sure Albus would love having you around for a day or two, I’ve been hearing about how you two do everything together since September,” Harry suggested.

“No,” Scorpius shook his head. “That’s not happening.”

“Why not?” asked Harry. “You wouldn’t be in the way or anything if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Dad and I can’t just go stay in your house every time he gets bad. We don’t even know you.”

Harry resisted the urge to raise his voice and insist that they both came with him immediately until he figured out what exactly was wrong with Draco. Scorpius had resumed staring at his hands and ignoring Harry entirely.

A loud knock on the front door announced that Albus was back from the supermarket. Scorpius got up to let him in and shook his head slightly when he saw the two large bags Albus had somehow managed to drag up six flights of stairs.

“You didn’t need to buy so much,” he mumbled, taking one of the heavy bags off Albus and taking it through to the kitchen. He could hear Albus taking off his shoes behind him before he too came into the kitchen and put the bag on the table beside where Harry was sitting.

“Thanks, Albus,” said Harry.

Albus peered around the room. It was definitely small, and the majority of the space that made up the living room section of the flat was taken up by a pull-out sofa bed. Which appeared to have a huge lump of pillows and blankets on it. It took Albus a second to realise that the lump of blankets must be Scorpius’s dad. He looked quickly away, not wanting to be caught staring.

“Scorpius, are you sure you don’t want to at least consider my offer?” asked Harry.

Scorpius shook his head. “We’re fine,” he said, not looking at Harry or Albus.

“Then I think we’ve taken up enough of your time,” said Harry, getting up from his chair and pushing it back under the table.

Both Albus and Scorpius turned to stare at him.

“We’re leaving now?” asked Albus uncertainly. He wasn’t sure he felt ok with leaving Scorpius in the cold, sad flat. He wanted Scorpius to come with them to his house, with its big, warm kitchen and cosy living room.

“We are,” said Harry.

Scorpius got up as well and walked them the few steps it took to get to the front door.

Albus pulled Scorpius into a hug.

“You’ll have to come visit,” he said, pressing his face into Scorpius’s shoulder. “I still want to show you my room and you have to meet my sister.”

“I would love to,” Scorpius said quietly, pulling away from Albus. He felt odd, like everything that was happening wasn’t real. It was just some kind of bad dream.

“I hope your dad feels better soon,” he said to Scorpius before stepping back out of the flat onto the landing.

Harry took one last look at the small, dark hallway before turning to Scorpius.

“If you need anything Scorpius, you or your dad, just write. And if you ever need anywhere to go, you have the address. I really hope we’ll see you soon and tell your dad the invitation extends to him as well. I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye but I would really like to see him again,” he said quietly to Scorpius, who only nodded in response.

“Thank you for the food, Mr Potter” was the only answer he gave.

“Please, call me Harry” said Harry, before saying goodbye and shutting the apartment door gently behind him.

* * *

Neither Harry nor Albus said a word until they were back in the car.

Harry was very worried, both that he had made a mistake leaving the flat without doing more to help and about the situation Scorpius was in. Albus, meanwhile, was thoroughly confused.

“I don’t think he’s going to let us help him,” Albus said to Harry.

“I know,” he said. “Then why didn’t you force him to come with us?” Albus asked, even more confused than he had been before.

“Because we can’t force him to do anything. We can’t force him to come with us or accept any help. I just hope he realises we really want to help them, both him and Draco”. Harry started the car and pulled out of the car park.

Albus took one last look at the large grey block of flats and shivered slightly. It looked very sinister and threatening. It was only when they pulled onto the motorway a few minutes later that Harry began to ask Albus questions.

“Did you know?” he asked Albus. “Did you know what was happening at home with Scorpius?”

“No” said Albus, somewhat sadly. “He never told me about any of it. I mean, he phoned home a lot, more than most of the others, which I guess makes sense now. And we all knew he wasn’t rich; he never had all the stuff for classes and so on. But I didn’t know it was that bad”. That much was true. Scorpius had been incredibly secretive as far as his home life was concerned and he usually switched the topic if it ever came up in a conversation. He rarely brought any attention to the fact he was reliant on the school library for most of his textbooks and that he didn’t have an owl. He just didn’t talk about it and as a result no one else had either. Albus couldn’t help but feel guilty about not asking more questions.

The rest of the drive home was silent.

Harry was deep in thought and Albus was trying to remember if Scorpius had ever given any indication of having the problems he did. Then something else suddenly occurred to him.

“Dad?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“What’s wrong with Scorpius’s dad? Is he sick?”

Harry sighed.

“I suppose he is ill, in a way. But not the kind of ill you can fix with just medicine.”

Albus nodded.

“Is he depressed like Uncle George was?” he asked quietly.

“From my understanding, yes,” Harry responded.

Albus could remember how Uncle George would seem sad for days, even on his birthday. And how he would sleep a lot and not talk. He hadn’t seemed sad for a while now. His mum had said he was finally working through everything and that was why he was less sad now.

* * *

When they got home, Albus went up to his room straight away.

Ginny wasn’t home yet and the house was silent. He shut the door softly behind him and looked around his room, which he had missed so much while at Hogwarts that it had hurt. He looked at his bed, which had been made all nicely. He slowly turned and realised for the first time just how spacious his room was. How large his windows were and how much nicer the view from his window was than the view from Scorpius’s room. He looked at the framed pictures hanging on his wall over his desk, at his own radio. At the bookcase that was stuffed full of books and trinkets. He tried not to think of Scorpius’s little room with the tiny window and view onto a neighbouring apartment block. But he couldn’t forget it. And suddenly he felt almost guilty for how lucky he was while standing in his own bedroom.

Downstairs in the kitchen Harry was also thinking of Scorpius, and Draco. He was determined to somehow help them. He had settled on deciding to write to Draco tomorrow, to personally extend the offer he had asked Scorpius to pass on. He had a horrible feeling there would be no answer, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did nothing.

* * *

Not impossibly far away, Scorpius Malfoy sat in his small bedroom and tried to ignore the sick feeling that had only grown his stomach ever since Harry and Albus had left.

He was sitting on his bed with a blanket wrapped around him to try to stop the numb feeling in his fingers from spreading and pretending to read, even if only to himself. There had been no sign of life from his dad yet, and there was nothing for Scorpius to do except wait. Wait for his dad to pull himself out of whatever dark hole he’d fallen into this time.

Scorpius hated the waiting.


End file.
